Alternative music, cult films, and pop culture explored through a Gen X lens — with reviews, interviews, and a deep-dive podcast.
The Melvins ‘Tarantula Heart’ Review: experimental metal pioneers go back to double drumming while exploring new sonic pathways. The Melvins are the metal band that never sleeps. Since forming in the late 80s, the sludge icons have pumped out 27 studio albums, setting a high bar for quantity and quality. Ever the musical mad scientists, […]
The Church ‘Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars’ Review: companion piece expands on Aussie rockers 2023 concept album ‘The Hypnogogue’. Last year Aussie alternative psych rockers The Church released their 26th studio album The Hypnogogue. It was a hallmark for the band in two respects: it was their first album featuring only one original member […]
The Jesus and Mary Chain ‘Glasgow Eyes’ Review: The Reid brothers celebrate their 40th anniversary on engaging new album. The Jesus and Mary Chain, featuring the brotherly duo nucleus of Jim and William Reid, are now shoegaze and post-punk elder statesmen. They survived horrific infighting in the late 90’s, which hastened a breakup, only to […]
The Dandy Warhols ‘Rockmaker’ Review: Portland collective delivers their most rocking albums in years, featuring unexpected musical guest appearances. Over their 30-year career, Portland, Oregon’s The Dandy Warhols have been impossible to pigeonhole: a tad too Anglophile to fit into the U.S. rock scene, yet too aggressive and rough around the edges to defy their […]
Albums Revisited: The Cult’s Dreamtime (40th Anniversary Vinyl Reissue): in honor of Beggar’s Basement reissue, we look back at The Cult’s propulsive post-punk debut album four decades on. The Cult are celebrating their 40th anniversary in style. In late 2023 they reunited as Death Cult, the moniker they used in the early 80’s before shortening […]
Concert Review: Tool at Moody Center, Austin: L.A. prog-metal icons show their enduring power over potent set. “Be present.” That was the mantra and conditional agreement that Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan requested from the rabid Austin crowd that gathered at Moody Center Wednesday evening marking their first Austin appearance since pre-pandemic 2020. The crotchety […]
10 Best Alternative Rock and Metal Albums of 2023: these are the albums that got us through a crazy year. It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2023. And that means it’s time for SLIS to do our annual Best-of Year list. 2023 was not a massive year for rock. But what it lacked in […]
RIP Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker: An Influential Yet Underrated Guitarist Who Helped to Shape Post-Punk, Alternative Rock and Metal For discerning fans of heavy music, a seismic loss has occurred. Kevin “Geordie” Walker, guitarist for UK post-punk icons Killing Joke has died at the age of 65. The band posted the bad news on Facebook: […]
MTVoid ‘Matters Knot’ Review: Tool bassist Justin Chancellor showcases eclectic sounds on sophomore album for project featuring vocalist Peter Mohamed. As fans know, things work slowly within the world of Tool. It took over a whopping 13 years between their last two albums. It seems that this slow but sure pace also extends to the […]
Concert Review: Nick Cave at ACL Live: master songwriter and performer offered an intimate evening accompanied only by piano and bass. Nick Cave has earned a reputation as a thorny character, a gloomy fellow adorned in black, crooning nihilistic lyrics of hell and damnation. He’s most often accompanied by his backing band The Bad Seeds, […]
